When last seen, the Crimson Tide suffered a devastating 49-37 come-from-ahead loss Wednesday at Auburn, and both coach Anthony Grant and senior guard Andrew Steele suggested a need to look in the mirror.

Two days later, they both wanted to keep the reflection to a minimum.

What did Grant see in the mirror?

“We have to play a lot better,” he said Friday, a day before a 7 p.m. CST home game against LSU (ESPN2). “We didn’t play well. Anytime you look at the offensive numbers that we put up, the defensive numbers that we gave up, it going to be tough to win in those situations when you don’t bring your best. We have to understand that.”

What did Steele see?

“What coach said is right, but after every game, win or lose, we always try to find a way to get better as a team,” he said. “That’s always our focus, so that’s what we are trying to do.”

The Crimson Tide (14-8, 6-3 SEC) is alone in fourth place in the Southeastern Conference. It had won five of its previous six games before losing to its rival.

LSU (13-7, 4-5) has won three consecutive games and four of its past five after getting off to an 0-4 start in the SEC.

Before going over the cliff, Alabama had been living on the edge. In its previous five games, it had had a one-point victory and a one-point loss. Its four victories came by an average margin of three points.

Where does the Tide start in regard to picking up the pieces from a loss in which it scored 14 points in the second half after leading by 10 points at halftime? It lacked effort and energy, Grant said after the game.

But now Grant wants to look forward instead of backward.

“Every game counts as one, whether it’s a big win or a loss,” Grant said. “It is one game.

“We have a very talented LSU team coming in our building, so our mindset is on LSU. They are playing their best basketball right now, so we’ve got to do a really good job. It starts on the defensive end as always for us. They have a lot of guys that shoot the ball extremely well from the 3-point line. They are very good in transition and have size and physicality up front, so we’re going to have to do a great job on the defensive end first and foremost.”

Steele was asked to describe the mood on the bus ride home from Auburn and the state of the team since then.

“Obviously, losing hurts no matter who it is,” he said. “When it’s against Auburn, it hurts a little bit more. The thing is, there is nothing we can do about it. The game is over. We can’t go back and change it, but what we can control is what we do going forward.

Stringer ranks third in the SEC in 3-point field-goal percentage (.404).

“Stringer has been through the league a couple of times,” Grant said. “I am really impressed with the way he shoots the basketball. Obviously, he’s extremely dangerous from 3. He’s got unlimited range.

“He’s done a really good job for their team on the defensive end as well. … Between him and Anthony Hickey, I think they are doing a terrific job of creating havoc from a defensive standpoint with the way they get after the basketball.”

Steele also is impressed with Stringer.

“He impacts their team in a lot of ways,” Steele said. “He’s one of those guys that you can’t necessarily shut him out; you hope to contain him and make it tough for him and limit his opportunities. He’s a good player, and we just have to do a good against him and the rest of their team.”